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Neobalaenidaepygmy right whale

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By Phil Myers

The single member of this family, the pygmy right whale (Caperea marginata), is found in the cold-temperate waters of the southern hemisphere. Usually included in the family Balaenidae in the past, they differ from members of that family in several ways. They are small, only up to about 6 m. The body is gray, lacking the striking black and white markings common in balaenids. Caperea marginata has, however, a strikingly white mouth and tongue. It also has a small, falcate dorsal fin.

This species is poorly known. It probably does not school or migrate long distances. It is believed to feed on copepods. The species is too uncommon to have been of much importance to commercial whalers.

Contributors

Phil Myers (author), Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

Glossary

bilateral symmetry

having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

chemical

uses smells or other chemicals to communicate

endothermic

animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

sexual

reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

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This material is based upon work supported by the
National Science Foundation
Grants DRL 0089283, DRL 0628151, DUE 0633095, DRL 0918590, and DUE 1122742. Additional support has come from the Marisla Foundation, UM College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, Museum of Zoology, and Information and Technology Services.